[NON BLOG] Random Encounters

[rfmcdonald]

While disembarking an hour ago from the College TTC station en route to my new job, a street person who I'd seen before in the area--a woman in her 50s--asked me for 15 cents. I walked a couple of steps past her, then I doubled back and offered to buy her something from the Cinnabon in the nearby College Park underground mall. I ended up getting her a cinnamon bun and a coffee.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do in situations like this. Charlottetown was a rather different sort of situation; even in Kingston, poverty wasn't so visible. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do since episodic case-by-case actions surely can't be enough.